Lew Tobin Goes to the Cape

 Greetings, Citizens of Earth!

I have a very interesting guest submission as a feature today, but first, let's get caught up on the old posts I've corrected. This time around, it's November of 2010, and during that month, I offered up a Gene Marshall record appropriate for Veterans' Day, a Halmark record very appropriate (or at least, to the degree that any Halmark record is appropriate for anything) for Thanksgiving, a countrified Rodd Keith entry, and a bizarre Sammy Marshall release, meant to commemorate the Kansas Centennial of 1961, with a song about, yes, serial killers. 

~~

And now, for something unexpected: 

Several years ago, Andrew Bohan reached out to me in e-mail. I don't exactly recall what it was that I posted, or where, that led him to seek contact, but before long, he was sending me a lot of his favorite obscure '50's and '60's releases, including girl group and doo-wop sort of things. And what's more, he made an active effort to figure out just which of his holdings would resonate with me, which only one other person - my closest friend - had ever really tried, or been able, to do. Over the subsequent months of contact, he sent me more than a half-dozen records which have since become all-time favorites of mine - seriously, top 1000 recordings of all time sort of stuff. 

These have included "Lost Love" by the Koo Kittens, "Kissing School" by Tannie Taylor, and, particularly, Bald Headed Papa by the Gingersnaps and "Love in Return" by the Nightingales. Not long after our first contact, he started posting like crazy to YouTube, and I'm taking this opportunity to give back and drive a bit of traffic to his site, because not only did he share all of the above - and a lot more - with me, he just sent me a song-poem which seems like to have something of an offbeat backstory (although... who knows...). 

The record involves the Sterling label and its head honcho, Lew Tobin. Unlike many of his competitors, Tobin appears to have done very little sharing of his talent and output with other labels, be they vanity labels or something else. But here's one of the rare ones, a record which came out on both Sterling and on what may be the only release from Cape Records, featuring a singer who does not appear on any other documented song-poem release, Jerry Dixon. 

What's more, while the B side, which I'm sharing first, sounds fairly similar to what Tobin was putting out at the time (although it should also be noted that this is the earliest recorded documented on Sterling at AS/PMA), the flip side sounds nothing (to me, at least) like anything else. Tobin ever released.

Andrew has posted the A-side to youtube, as it is in line with his tastes and interests, but he knew that the B-side would float my boat, and he not only sent it to me, he also gave me the okay to share it on this site. I am aware that this record is out there on the internet (something I usually avoid duplicating), but as it would not easily turn up in a search for song-poems - given the lack of a common label or performer - I'm still sharing it here. 

It's a chugging little number with simple backing and simple lyrics. Jerry Dixon sings the fairly downcast lyrics in a cheery and bouncy manner. It quickly wormed its way into my brain. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Download: Jerry Dixon with Lew Tobin's Orchestra - Gambler's Blues

Play:  

~~

And now the A-side. Again, this sounds quite unlike Tobin's style - no crisp production, no tinny guitar, nothing. This is almost a doo-wop style ballad, with piano triplets, a somewhat thick production haze and soulful female backing vocalists. I'm fascinated by this record, and would love to know it's provenance. I'm sure there's a bit of a story there. 

As Andrew has posted this one, I'm not doing a "play" line here, and if you want to simply hear it, you can go to his YouTube site here. But you can still download it: 

Download: Jerry Dixon and the Jewels with Lew Tobin's Orchestra - Gambler's Blues

Many, many thanks for Andrew - you've brought me joy in music many times over.